Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King!

Thought / dreams

'Telepathic voice'

[Voice from the past]

=Telephone=

Letter

"Dialogue"

Emphasis

A dangerous tone

Hao was acting by instinct alone. When he saw that Yoh was nearly getting hit by the car, all he could think was that he had to protect Yoh, to not let anything happened to him, that he had to make sure Yoh would be alright.

No! Not Yoh!

Those two words had screamed inside his head, and before he knew it, he had thrown himself at Yoh and got the both of them out of the car's way. He was grateful that a Demon's body was stronger and faster than normal human, or he would get hit by the car as soon as he pushed Yoh away – not that it would do anything to him, aside from giving him a sore body.

He was panting heavily, the adrenaline rush that he had felt just a second before had left him breathless, but at least Yoh was alright.

"Hao?"

He dimly heard Yoh's voice calling him out, worry filled his voice, but somehow … he couldn't focus on the sight in front of him, something was pulling him in, and he was trying to fight the pull. He was losing the fight, what he saw in front of him was not the concrete of the road anymore, but a room filled with darkness.

A room filled with darkness, or that was what he had thought at first – but no, it was actually a night sky that was covered by clouds, and he felt like he was moving in high speed.

"-!"

"-!"

He could hear a sound of something like a screaming people, but his mind couldn't understand what they were screaming about. Although, he could understand the dread he felt when the warmth that he felt from beside him suddenly disappeared.

Suddenly he was not feeling everything anymore, he was watching as everything happened in front of him like a film. He could see a form of a man running while carrying two babies, but the sight was so blur, he could only saw their figure and not appearance. A man was chasing after the man who was carrying the two babies, he could see that the babies were holding hands, but then they were separated when the second man managed to pull one of the babies from the first man.

The baby in the second man's hand opened their eyes and Hao gasped – it was his own eyes, and the eyes of his baby self was already aware of everything. His baby self cried loudly, 'Don't take him away!' Was what echoed in his head, as if that was what his baby self was thinking when he cried, as absurd as it sounded.

His feeling was a strong one for a baby, Hao could feel it in his own heart – as if he was the one experiencing all that at the time and not just watching what was happening. The strong feeling from the his baby self had somehow summoned an Oni, and the Oni attacked the first man right away, the second man then used that distraction to snatch the other baby from the first man and ran away.

Hao thought that the dread feeling he felt through his baby self would disappeared, but it only become stronger when they were crossing a crossroad. Hao saw it all. A car was heading their way, and a Grim Reaper – or more known as Shinigami by their kind and the Japanese people – was ready to strike them with their Scythe. The car was making a screeching noise when the driver tried to stop it by hitting the brake, but the man who were now carrying both babies got hit and they fell to the ground – or maybe a ground, since he couldn't see anything clearly except for the Shinigami and his baby self.

The Shinigami's Scythe went through the man, and the man had stop breathing right away. The Shinigami then looked at the baby, and somehow … the Shinigami was hesitating to strike. The reason was because of Hao's baby self, even though he was just a baby but Hao received a feeling that his baby self was aware of what was happening and understand it all.

'Don't take him away! Just take me but leave him alone!'

Hao heard it being echoed again. His baby self was really aware of what was happening and wanting to protect the other baby, but who was this other baby? Why in the world he was able to understand what was happening around him even with him as a baby?

The Shinigami was hesitating, but then they swung their Scythe and stabbed Hao's baby self at the heart, not the other baby like what his baby self had feared, and everything soon blackened.

Hao found himself floating in the midst of nothing, just an unlimited dark space with nothing but him in there, and his mind recognized it as a situation between dreaming and waking up.

He couldn't understand, it was certainly the memory that he need in order to know the reason he become a Demon of Heart, the one he need to know what he want to do so badly that he pulled the Darkness into him. But why only a piece of the memory? He thought that he was going to remember it all, but he only saw what was causing his death and not knowing what he want to do so badly in life that he unable to do before he died. It's all so confusing, and the half memory left him with a feeling of want. He wanted to know more about his death, so maybe he could figure out what was holding him back.

Finally, Hao felt that he was awake and in his own body, so he opened his eyes slowly in tiredness. He was immediately greeted by the sight of Yoh's worried eyes. "Yoh?" He asked in confusion.

Yoh sighed in relief, "Thank Goddess, I thought that there's something wrong with you." He said with a small smile, "What happened? Why did you faint all of a sudden?".

Hao sat up and leaned on the head of the bed before looking at Yoh with a tired smile, "Nothing." He said softly, "Just remembering something, that's all".

"Remember what?" Yoh asked as he touched Hao's forehead, "Well, at least you didn't get a concussion or something, but your body is a bit warm. Are you alright?".

"I'm alright." Hao assured him, "I was just shocked when I saw that car. I thought I was going to lose you".

Yoh sighed and shook his head, "No, I could avoid something like that easily, you just over thinking about it." He smiled at Hao, "So, what did you remember?".

Hao inhaled deeply and sighed, "Just a piece of memory, the memory that would help me find out what I want to do so badly before I died, but I only get a glimpse of it." He explained softly, "I still don't know what make me holding to life so much, I only remembered the cause of my death".

Yoh pouted, "You had come back to life, you know? Even though it's as a Demon." He said with a smile, "You are alive now, so don't say something like you are dead again".

Hao smiled wryly, "My current life is only a half life, Yoh." He told the boy, who raised an eyebrow in response, "Here." He said as he pulled Yoh's hand, which was still on his forehead, to his chest, "Do you feel anything?".

Yoh frowned for a second before his expression turned into a shock, "There's no heartbeat." He said in disbelief as he looked at Hao's chest, "How come?".

"That's why I said my life is only a half life." Hao said as he let the boy's hand to slip away from his grasp, "My body could move, I could eat, and feel something and all that, but my heart is not beating. I'm alive but not alive at the same time, only a half existence".

Yoh looked at Hao sadly for a moment before he shook his head sharply and smiled at Hao, "Even though it's a half life, a life is still a life." He smiled at the stunned Demon, "Even without a heartbeat, you are still you, you are still able to move around and have a feeling, and that's what count".

Hao's eyes widened at that, he couldn't believe that Yoh could be so optimist, he chuckled then. "You are an interesting boy, Yoh." He smiled at the boy, "I would love it when I get to know more about you." He felt a strange urge to hug the boy, so he did just that. He pulled the boy into him and wrapped his arms around the boy, "Thank you, you had given me a new sight in life, the meaning of true life".

Yoh laughed in response and hug him back, "You're welcome." He answered calmly before a mew caught their attention, they pulled apart and looked down to see the cat Yoh had picked up earlier was mewing at them, with its eyes looking at them in wonder. "Oh right." He said as he picked the cat up, "Are you hungry, little kitten?".

"You haven't named it?" Hao asked curiously.

"I'm bad at naming something." Yoh said with a sheepish grin, "Why don't you name him, Hao?".

Hao looked at the cat and smiled warmly, "Matamune." He said right away, "I think that it's a good name for this cat".

Yoh looked at the cat at arm length, "Matamune then." He said with a smile, "Welcome to your new home, Matamune." He let the cat down and looked at Hao, "It's night time, how about a dinner?".

"I would love it." Hao answered as he stood up as well, Yoh smiled in response and they headed downstairs to the Dining Room together.

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To be continued …

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